Elevator station for an urban cable car

ABSTRACT

The line of the passenger transport installation in an urban environment extends at a height over the middle of the street and the vehicles stop in an elevated state in the terminal station. An automatic mechanism, comprising a lifting jack and a telescopic platform, makes it possible to transfer the passengers from the sidewalk at ground level to the elevated vehicle by means of a vertical movement followed by a transverse movement.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an overhead collective people mover installation having vehicles running on carrier cables and stations for the people to embark and disembark, at least one of the stations, situated in an urban environment, presenting a location for stopping of the vehicle located in elevated manner above the street, said stopping location being transversely offset with respect to an access location for the people situated at ground level.

STATE OF THE ART

In urban cable car installations, the tracks on which the vehicles run are generally installed at a height, above the level of the urban traffic, in the middle of the street, and the vehicles stop in front of platforms themselves located at a height along the edge of the track. Access to these platforms requires stairways, lifts, escalators, . . . and walkways thereby requiring a considerable infrastructure.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

In urban transport, each terminal is confronted with an issue involving a twofold optimization—on the one hand the volume and transparency for enhanced insertion in the urban fabric and on the other hand the ground occupation so as to encroach as little as possible on the road system, in particular on the sidewalks.

The urban cable car tracks are thus located above and in the middle of the roadway, laterally at a distance from the sidewalks where the users of the overhead installation normally walk.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simplified station devoid of loading and unloading platforms at the level and at the edge of the stopping location of the vehicle.

The installation according to the invention is characterized in that an automatic mechanism transfers the people from the access location at ground level to the elevated stopping location of the vehicle and that the automatic mechanism is installed in an access area for the people on the sidewalk and comprises elevator means in conjunction with means for performing transverse movement.

The people who want to embark step into a car of elevator type, that is at a standstill at the access location, advantageously at the edge of the roadway on the sidewalk. In synchronism with arrival and stopping of the vehicle in the station, the elevator means, for example formed by a jack, lift the car up to the level of the vehicle, and the translation means, for example in the form of a telescopic support platform, move the car to a position where the latter is in abutment against the vehicle. The car, in usual manner, has a door opening at the same time as the door of the vehicle so as to enable the people to step out from the car into the vehicle. In inverse manner, the people can disembark from the vehicle and step into the car, and after the doors have been closed, can be taken to ground level by means of a reverse operation.

The assembly is fully automated and the car can also constitute a chamber for controlling the load of the vehicle, performing control of entry into the car according to the number of persons already present in the vehicle and those disembarking from the vehicle. It is easy to see that the ground occupation of the station is limited to the size of the car and that any passenger safety or guiding barrier is quite unnecessary. The components of the automatic transfer device are well known as such, for example a mechanism with a hydraulic lifting jack and a telescopic support platform control jack. In the lowered position of the car on the sidewalk, the mechanism is advantageously retracted in a pit arranged in the sidewalk.

When the car is located at the edge of the sidewalk, it compulsorily comprises two doors, one on the side which is to abut with the vehicle and the other on one of the sides facing the sidewalk, according to the access conditions.

According to an alternative embodiment of the invention, the car of elevator type is supported by the end of a horizontal arm fixed via its other end to the axis of the lifting jack. This telescopic axis is arranged in such a way that the extension and therefore elevational movement is accompanied by a swivelling movement of the arm and therefore by a transverse movement bringing the car up against the stopped vehicle. A single door of the car can in this case provide access to the ground and passage to the vehicle.

According to another alternative embodiment, the automatic transfer mechanism takes up the vehicle, which has previously been disconnected from the cables, and moves the latter transversely and then vertically down to ground level on the sidewalk. A telescopic platform is slid under the vehicle to extract it from the track and to move it into line with the sidewalk. The lifting jack then moves the vehicle down onto the sidewalk. Removal of the vehicle from the track clears the latter totally for the passage of express vehicles not stopping in this station. The passengers disembark at ground level in perfect safety on the sidewalk and others embark directly in the vehicle which, by means of a reverse movement, is lifted up to the level of the track and then moved transversely so that it is in line with the track, to which it is reconnected. This embodiment requires a real transfer machine, in the case of a heavy vehicle, but the sidewalk is completely cleared in the absence of loading and unloading operations.

According to another alternative embodiment, the automatic transfer mechanism is broken down into two. One, as in the previous embodiment, takes up the vehicle, previously detached from the cables, and moves it transversely, and the other, in synchronized manner, lifts a car of elevator type vertically to the level of the vehicle. Said car has a door opening at the same time as the door of the vehicle to enable people to transfer from the car to the vehicle and vice-versa. After closing of the doors, the car is moved to ground level to unload the passengers at the same time as the vehicle is moved transversely to come in line with the track, to which it is reconnected. This alternative embodiment essentially has the advantage in its operation of transfer time saving, and in its design of handling the vehicle in minimal manner over a short distance to move it transversely away from the main track and to use a standard elevator car for vertical movement of the passengers over a relatively large difference of level, concluding in an equivalent transfer time of the two movements. Finally this alternative embodiment, like the previous embodiment, releases the main track of the installation enabling express vehicles not stopping at said station to pass.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other advantages and features will become more clearly apparent from the following description of particular embodiments of the invention represented for example purposes only in the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic elevational view of a station according to the invention,

FIGS. 2 and 3 are respectively side and plane views of the station according to FIG. 1,

FIGS. 4 and 5 are similar views to FIGS. 2 and 3 showing the car in the raised intermediate position,

FIGS. 6 and 7, similar to FIGS. 4 and 5, show the car in abutment against the vehicle,

FIGS. 8 to 13 are similar views respectively of FIGS. 2 to 7, illustrating an alternative embodiment of the invention,

FIGS. 14 to 19 are similar views respectively of FIGS. 2 to 7, illustrating another alternative embodiment,

FIGS. 20 to 25 are similar views respectively of FIGS. 2 to 7, illustrating another alternative embodiment .

In FIG. 1, vehicles 1 for transporting passengers 2 run on carrier cables 3 supported at a height by towers 4. The track on which vehicles 1 run extends above a roadway 5 at a sufficient height so as not to encroach on roadway 6, represented by a broken line in FIG. 2. Vehicles 1 stop in an intermediate station 7 for loading and/or unloading of passengers 2. Referring more particularly to FIGS. 2 to 7, it can be seen that station 7 is equipped with a car 8 for transfer of passengers 2 waiting at an access location 9 at ground level, i.e. on a sidewalk, to a vehicle 1 at an elevated stopping location 11. Car 8, of elevator type, is supported by a hydraulic jack 12, housed in a pit 10 of the sidewalk, which raises car 8 to the level of vehicle 1 at a standstill in station 7 (FIG. 4). A telescopic platform 13 supporting car 8 is fixed on jack 12 to move the car laterally into abutment with vehicle 1 (FIG. 6). In the abutting position, a door (not represented) of vehicle 1 is facing a door (not represented) of car 8, and opening of these doors enables loading and/or unloading to take place in perfect safety. Car 8 is brought back to ground level by reverse retraction movements of telescopic support platform 13 and of lifting jack 12.

The device according to the invention is completely automated and operates in the following manner: car 8 is normally at ground level and the entrance door (not represented) is open. A number of people 2 allowed to enter is controlled by a load control device according to the number of passengers present in vehicle 1 and to the number of passengers stopping in this station. Vehicle 1 approaching station 7 triggers the transfer operation by closing of the door of car 8, raising of the car by jack 12, abutment of car 8 with vehicle 1, by extension of telescopic support platform 13 and opening of the doors for passage from car 8 to the stopped vehicle 1. Transfer takes place in perfect safety and car 8 can be completely closed. Car 8 is taken down to ground level by a reverse operation. The mechanism for performing movement of car 8 is installed on the sidewalk at the edge of roadway 5. The infrastructure of station 7 is simplified and does not comprise any fixed part at the level of the overhead track. The ground occupation is limited to the size of car 8.

In the following figures the same reference numerals designate similar or identical parts to those of the previous figures.

FIGS. 8 to 13 illustrate an embodiment in which car 8 is moved by a mechanism formed by a single jack 14, which supports a horizontal arm 15 at its end. Car 8 is located at the free end of arm 15. In the lowered position of jack 14, represented in FIGS. 8 and 9, arm 15 extends at ground level in parallel manner to the track formed by carrier cables 3, and the passengers can enter car 8 in the manner described in the foregoing. Jack 14 is of vertical extension type, accompanied by a rotation making arm 15 swivel. The vertical elevation movement of car 8 is thus accompanied by a transverse movement moving car 8 towards vehicle 1. The different phases of these movements are represented in FIGS. 10 to 13 and it is not necessary to describe operation of the station which is identical to that described in the foregoing. The assembly is arranged in such a way as to prevent arm 15 and car 8 from encroaching on the ground occupation 6 of the roadway. The two elevation and rotation movements are not necessarily concomitant and rotation can take place after elevation.

FIGS. 19 to 14 are similar views to FIGS. 2 to 7, of another alternative embodiment. In this alternative embodiment, jack 12, similar to the jack of FIGS. 2 to 7, comprises a telescopic support platform 16 that is sufficiently long to slide underneath vehicle 1 in the extended position. Jack 12 no longer supports a car, but directly takes up vehicle 1 to transfer the latter from the elevated stopping location (FIGS. 14,15) to the access location at ground level (FIGS. 18,19) and vice-versa. In its stopped position (FIGS. 14,15) vehicle 1 is disconnected from cables 3, and platform 16, which has slid underneath vehicle 1, supports the latter. In the previously described manner, retraction of support platform 16 moves vehicle 1 transversely and retraction of jack 12 lowers vehicle 1 to ground level. After the passengers have embarked, vehicle 1 is transferred from ground level, by a reverse operation, to the elevated position underneath cables 3 to which it is reconnected. For this purpose, vehicle 1 comprises detachable grips (not represented) or a device for performing detachment of the compartment, well known to persons specialized in trade. Likewise fixing of vehicle 1 onto support platform 16 is achieved by any well-known suitable means. The device is fully automated and it is not necessary to describe operation thereof which is identical to that of the previous devices. The vehicle is heavier than an elevator car and the size of the transfer machinery is adjusted to take account of the corresponding weight increase. Loading and unloading take place at ground level in perfect safety. When the installation is shut down, the sidewalk is completely cleared.

FIGS. 20 to 25 are similar views to FIGS. 2 to 7 of another alternative embodiment. In this alternative embodiment, car 8, of elevator type, is supported by a hydraulic jack 20 housed in a column 17 located on the sidewalk, which lifts car 8 to the level of vehicle 1 stopped in station 7 which is disconnected from cables 3, taken up by support platform 18, and moved transversely to platform 19, fixed to column 17, at the level of car 8 which arrives at the same moment (FIGS. 24, 25). After unloading and/or loading of the passengers of vehicle 1 in car 8, by a reverse operation vehicle 1 is moved transversely underneath cables 3 to which it is reconnected at the same time as car 8 is taken down to ground level for unloading and/or loading of the passengers. The device is fully automated and it is not necessary to describe the operation which is similar to that of the previous devices.

The line is in general a two-track line and the station is then equipped with a second mechanism on the opposite sidewalk. 

1. An overhead collective people mover installation having vehicles running on carrier cables and stations for the people to embark and disembark, at least one of the stations, situated in an urban environment, presenting a stopping location of the vehicle located in elevated manner above the street, said stopping location being transversely offset with respect to an access location for the people situated at ground level, wherein an automatic mechanism transfers the people from the access location at ground level to the elevated stopping location of the vehicle of the installation, and the automatic mechanism is installed in an access area for the people on the sidewalk and comprises elevator means in conjunction with means for performing transverse movement.
 2. The installation according to claim 1, comprising a car of elevator type and a mechanism for performing movement of the car between the access location where the people embark in and disembark from the car at ground level and the stopping location of the vehicle where the people embark in and disembark from the vehicle, going from the car, in abutment with the vehicle, to the vehicle and vice-versa.
 3. The installation according to claim 2, wherein the mechanism comprises a lifting jack with vertical extension and a telescopic support platform for horizontal translation associated with the lifting jack.
 4. The installation according to claim 2, wherein the mechanism comprises a jack with a transverse arm supporting the car at its end and the extension movement of the jack is accompanied by a rotational movement making the arm swivel towards the stopping location to bring the car into abutment with the vehicle.
 5. The installation according to claim 1, comprising means for disconnecting the vehicle from the carrier cables at the stopping location of the station and a mechanism for performing movement of the vehicle, disconnected from the cables, between the stopping location of the vehicle and the access location, at ground level, where the people embark in and disembark from the vehicle.
 6. The installation according to claim 5, wherein the mechanism comprises a lifting jack of the vehicle and a telescopic support platform taking up the vehicle to move the latter transversely.
 7. The installation according to claim 1, wherein the automatic mechanism is installed on the sidewalk at the edge of the roadway.
 8. The installation according to claim 1, wherein the automatic mechanism is retractable, in the retracted position, into a pit arranged in the ground.
 9. The installation according to claim 1, comprising two automatic means, one for vertical movement of a car of elevator type, and the other at the upper level, which translates the vehicle disconnected from the cables from its stopping position to an abutment position against the car.
 10. The installation according to claim 1, wherein the two movements, vertical movement of the car and transverse movement of the vehicle, are simultaneous and/or synchronized. 